Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

David Ortiz of the Red Sox has made a good living as a designated hitter, but he can only do that in the American League. (Photo: Patrick Semansky)

OK now, football's over. Time to get those pitchers and catchers into camp for baseball.

I know, I know. You Denver Broncos fans probably haven't even changed out of your chili-stained orange jerseys yet. Fine. I'll give you till the end of the week to celebrate, but that's it. Then it's time for baseball.

I also know a lot of you are still waiting around for the full wrath of El Niño to hit Southern California this winter, but he may have missed his chance. You may just have to settle for partial wrath. It's time for baseball.

We're only a couple of weeks from camps opening, three weeks from the first spring training games and just over a month away from daylight saving time starting.

Believe me, daylight saving time — that is, saving daylight — is tied very closely to baseball and spring. Spring — and spring training — give you hope and optimism.

However, I've been reading things lately that worry me. No, I'm not just talking about the Dodgers front office seemingly snoozing through the offseason. I've also read some disturbing things about (lowering to a whisper) putting the designated hitter in the National League.

Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged the idea recently after St. Louis Cardinals owner John Mozeliak mentioned it. Manfred said putting the DH into both leagues was no longer considered "some sort of heretical comment."

Listen, Buster — excuse me, Commissioner Buster — you let us decide what's heretical and what's not. There are those of us who would consider anyone putting the DH in the National League a candidate for being burned at the stake.

Since then, Manfred has backed down, telling ESPN.com, "The most likely result on the designated hitter for the foreseeable future is the status quo. I think the vast majority of clubs in the National League want to stay where they are."

Darn tootin' they do.

"We would like to remain real baseball," Philadelphia Phillies chairman Dave Montgomery said in another ESPN.com article.

If you need someone to be a stunt double for your pitcher when it's time for him to bat, go to Central Casting.

Real men bat. And play in the field, too.

It adds so much more strategy to the game. In fact, without pitchers batting, baseball isn't much more than a video game.

Quite frankly, this is the only real difference anymore between the National and American leagues. That's important. You need the leagues to be different. Heaven knows everything else distinctive about them has been yanked away: The rules are so similar now, the leagues don't have their own umpires anymore. There's been a commissioner of baseball for a long time, but the leagues used to have their own presidents and be their own entities. Interleague play has its moments, but it has further watered down what is special between the two leagues.

It has been argued that once the NL adopted the DH, it would be likely that wholesale realignment would take place in baseball. Probably all the California teams would be clumped together and the sport like we've known it would never be the same. There would be human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria. All because of the designated hitter.

Now let's take a moment to look at the week just past. Oh, and OK, I suppose that includes a little football, too.

• Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton said just 87 words in reply to the 12 questions asked during his post-Super Bowl news conference. Of those 87, 61 were said in one answer. Apparently, Newton had used up all his words before the game.

•Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning apparently lives in an apartment complex. Asked about his future and whether he plans to retire, he kept referring to "the Man Upstairs." Just say God already.

•Public service announcement: It's possible casual fans had never heard of linebacker Von Miller, the Super Bowl MVP. To clarify, he is not a grocery-store magnate. He is not the owner of Vons.

•The problem with TV commercials today is that all the ones we see every day are so weird and so off the wall, they make Super Bowl commercials seem commonplace.

•I've been very impressed by the stunning musical ability of Lady Gaga in her post-meat dress days.

•Denver is holding a parade for the champs on Tuesday. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper are expected to attend. Hancock and Hickenlooper? Sounds like characters in a Marx Brothers movie.

•From ESPN Stats & Info: The Broncos are the eighth team to gain fewer than 200 yards in a Super Bowl. The previous seven all lost.

•Manning is not the quarterback he once was. The Broncos did not win Super Bowl 50 because of him. But the win still counts just as much when defense leads the way. Manning is like the aging baseball pitcher who pitches into his late 30s and still manages to win after learning a few “junk” pitches.